Amdhun Chowdheree held a share in the estate of Biswa, consisting of sixty-five villages; paying to Government 12,000 rupees a-year, and yielding a rent-roll of 65,000. His elder brother's widow resided on the estate, supported by Amdhun, who managed its affairs for the family. Nawab Allee got up a quarrel between her and her brother-in-law; and she assumed the right to authorize Nawab Allee to seize upon the whole estate. Amdhun appealed to his clan, but Nawab Allee, in collusion with the Nazim, was too strong for him, and got possession by taking a strong force, and driving out all who presumed to resist him. The estate had been held by the family for many centuries.
Mohun Sing held the estate of Mundhuna, which had been in his family for many generations. He was, by the usual process, five years ago, constrained to accept the security of Nawab Allee for the punctual payment of the revenue; and his estate was absorbed in the usual way, the year after. He is now, like a boa-constrictor, swallowing up Chowdheree Pertab Sing, who holds a large share in the hereditary estate of Biswa, which has been in the possession of the family for a great many generations. This share consisted of thirty-six villages, and paid a revenue to Government of fourteen thousand. Last year, Nawab Allee instigated the Nazim to demand ten thousand more. The Nazim, to prevent all disputes, assigned the twenty-four thousand to Mirza Hoseyn Beg, the commandant of a troop of cavalry, employed under him, in liquidation of their arrears of pay. The commandant gave him a receipt for the amount, which the Nazim sent to the treasury, and got credit for the amount in his accounts. But poor Pertab Sing could not pay, and was imprisoned by the cavalry, who kept possession of his person, and took upon them the collection of his rents. Nawab Allee came in and paid what was due; and gave security for the punctual payment of the revenue for the ensuing year. The estate was made over to him; and he put on score after score of dustuk bearers, who soon reduced Pertab Sing to utter beggary. Ten thousand rupees were due to Nawab Allee, and he had nothing left to sell; and under such circumstances no man else would lend him anything.
The dustuk bearers are servants of the creditor, who are sent to attend the debtor, extort from him their wages and subsistence, and see that he does not move, eat, or drink till he pays them. During this time the creditor saves all the wages of these attendants; and they commonly exact double wages from the debtor, so that he is soon reduced to terms. In this stage we found the poor Chowdheree on reaching Biswa. I had him released, and so admonished Nawab Allee, that he has some little chance of saving his estate.
Bisram Sing held the estate of Kooa Danda, which had been in the possession of his family of Ahbun Rajpoots for many centuries. It consisted of thirty-five villages, paid a revenue of six thousand rupees a-year, and yielded a rent-roll of eighteen thousand and five hundred. Nawab Allee coveted it as being on his border, and in good order. As soon as his friend; Allee Buksh, was appointed Nazim of the district, he prevailed upon him to report to the Durbar that Bisram Sing was a refractory subject, and plunderer; and to request permission to put him down by force of arms. This was in 1844, while Bisram Sing was living quietly on his estate. On receiving the order, which came as a matter of course, the Nazim united his force with that of Nawab Allee, and attacked the house of Bisram Sing, which had only twenty-two men to defend it against two thousand. Six of the twenty-two were killed, eight wounded, and eight only escaped; and Nawab Allee took possession of the estate.
Bisram Sing was at Lucknow at the time, trying to rebut the false charges of the Nazim; but his influence was unhappily too strong for him, and he got no redress. Soon after Nirput Sing, a sipahee in the 9th Regiment Native Infantry, presented a petition to the Resident, stating that he was the brother of Bisram Sing, and equally interested in the estate; and a special officer, Busharut Allee, was ordered by the Durbar to investigate and decide the case. He decided in favour of Nirput, the sipahee, and Bisram Sing. Another special officer was sent out to restore Bisram to possession. Nawab Allee then pleaded the non-existence of any relationship between Nirput and Bisram; and a third special officer has been sent out to ascertain this fact.
Belehree, held by Abud Allee, consists of forty villages, pays a revenue of twelve thousand rupees a-year, and yields a rent-roll of forty thousand. Abud Allee holds also the estate of Pyntee, in the same district, consisting of eighty villages, paying a revenue of thirty-five thousand, and yielding a rent-roll of one hundred and forty thousand. It had been held by his relative Kazim Allee, who was succeeded in the possession by Nizam Allee, the husband of his only daughter. Nizam Allee was in A.D. 1841 killed by a servant, who was cut down and killed in return by his attendants. Nizam Allee's widow held till 1843, when she made over the estate to Abud Allee, by whom she is supported.
Nawab Allee has always money at command to purchase influence at Court when required; and he has also a brave and well-armed force, with which to aid the governor of the district, when he makes it worth his while to do so, in crushing a refractory landholder. These are the sources of his power, and he is not at all scrupulous in the use of it—it is not the fashion to be so in Oude.
February 20th, 1850.—Came on sixteen miles to Futtehpore, in the estate of Nawab Allee, passing Mahmoodabad half way. Near that place we passed through a grove of mango and other trees called the "Lak Peree," or the grove of a hundred thousand trees planted by his ancestors forty years ago. The soil is the same, the country level, studded with the same rich foliage, and covered with the same fine crops. As we were passing through his estate, and were to encamp in it again to-day, Nawab Allee attended me on horseback; and I endeavoured to impress upon him and the Nazim the necessity of respecting the rights of others, and more particularly those of the old Chowdheree Pertab Sing. "Why is it," I asked, "that this beautiful scene is not embellished by any architectural beauties? Sheikh Sadee, the poet, so deservedly beloved by you all, old and young, Hindoos and Mahommedans, says, 'The man who leaves behind him in any place, a bridge, a well, a church, or a caravansera, never dies.' Here not even a respectable dwelling-house is to be seen, much less a bridge, a church, or a caravansera." "Here, sir," said old Bukhtawur, "men must always be ready for a run to the jungles. Unless they are so, they can preserve nothing from the grasp of the contractors of the present day, who have no respect for property or person—for their own character, or for that of their sovereign. The moment that a man runs to save himself, family, and property, they rob and pull down his house, and those of all connected with him. When a man has nothing but mud walls, with invisible mud covers, they give him no anxiety; he knows that he can build them up again in a few days, or even a few hours, when he comes back from the jungles; and he cares little about what is done to them during his absence. Had he an expensive house of burnt brick and mortar, he could never feel quite free. He might be tempted to defend it, and lose some valuable lives; or he might be obliged to submit to unjust terms. Were he to lay out his money in expensive mosques, temples, and tombs, they would restrain him in the same way; and he is content to live without them, and have his loins always girded for fight or flight."
"True," said Nawab Allee, "very true; we can plant groves and make wells, but we cannot venture to erect costly buildings of any kind. You saw the Nazim of Khyrabad, only a few days ago, bringing all his troops down upon Rampore, because the landlord, Goman Sing, would not consent to the increase he demanded of ten thousand, upon seventeen thousand rupees a-year, which he had hitherto paid. Goman Sing took to the jungles; and in ten days his fine crops would all have been destroyed, and his houses levelled with the ground, had you not interposed, and admonished both. The one at last consented to take, and the other to pay an increase of five thousand. Only three years ago, Goman Sing's father was killed by the Nazim in a similar struggle; and landholders must always be prepared for them."
February 21st, 1850.—Bureearpore, ten miles south-east, over a plain of the same fine soil, well cultivated, and carpeted with the same fine crops and rich foliage. Midway we entered the district of Ramnuggur Dhumeree, held by Rajah Gorbuksh Sing under the security of Seoraj-od Deen, the person who attempted in vain to arrest the charge of the two regiments upon the Khyrabad Nazim by holding up the sacred Koran over his head. He met me on his boundary, and Nawab Allee and the Nazim of Baree Biswa took their leave. Nawab Allee's brother, Abud Allee, came to pay his respects to me yesterday evening. He is a respectable person in appearance, and a man of good sense. The landscape was, I think, on the whole richer than any other that I have seen in Oude; but I am told that it is still richer at a distance from the road, where the poppy is grown in abundance, and opium of the best quality made.*